in summation
by shoutitfromthehills
Summary: Everything about their relationship could be summed up to their first meeting. NatClint relationship study.


**Title**: in summation

**Word Count:** 1115

**Fandom**: The Avengers (movie!verse)

**Pairing:** Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov

**Description**: Everything about their relationship could be summed up to their first meeting.

* * *

Everything about their relationship could be summed up to their first meeting, at least for Natasha.

There had been no one else, no other human, who could have tracked her for days without her knowledge. And now here she was, in the run-down shack he had lured her out to, her heart beating faster than it had in a long time. She was on the floor with her guns cocked and ready, his bow pointing at her chest while and his face stony. They had stayed like that a long time, calculating each other to see who would inevitably come out on top, before Natasha slowly lowered her guns to the groan and pushed them away.

She could see his guard drop as he lowered his bow, and when he moved closer she made her move. She rocked back and slammed the bottom of her foot into his shoulder, using her momentum to roll to her gun with enough time to fit it underneath his chin before he had time to recover from the fall.

"Who are you?" she said.

"Barton. Agent Barton," he replied. By his accent, she knew he was American, which means she was in deep shit. If she'd been foolish enough to get on the American's radar, then one assassin wouldn't be the extent of it. More would come, and one would eventually do what their predecessors hadn't been able to do.

This time Natasha lowered her weapons with no intention to raise them again.

"What are you planning on doing to me, Agent Barton?"

"My orders are to terminate you as a threat." His expression didn't waver. _This one has been trained well_, Natasha thought.

"And what if I 'terminate' you first?" A smirk pulled at Natasha's lips.

"More will come."

"What am I going to have to do to survive this, Agent Barton?"

This time, he returned her smirk.

* * *

One of the job descriptions of being Hawkeye is watching everyone and everything that S.H.I.E.L.D. tells him to. Natasha isn't technically on that list, but Clint watches anyway. The way she shed her past like an old, dirty jacket was astonishing. He had read her file before the termination-turned-extraction mission and knew her past and knew why she never talked much about it.

It was clear that Natasha took to life as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent as easily as walking from what she showed the world. But Clint was there with her every step of the way, in every mission, and he saw what others didn't. He saw the strain that having control caused her and her frustration whenever missions went awry. If anyone else was scary while frustrated, Natasha was downright dangerous. She would spar with Clint until they were both bruised and gasping for breath. Clint had thought he was in shape, but Natasha could match him blow for blow, and bested him eight out of every ten times they went at it.

They had been on mission in Germany for nearly a week when Natasha climbed into his bed and hovered over him, her lips inches from his. The kiss that followed wasn't their first, not by a long shot, but it was the first one when they weren't acting, when they weren't keeping up appearances for a mission. The night that came after was a first, however, one that both of them had wanted for a while.

Whatever it was between them could never grow into an actual relationship since they were both a little too screwed up for anything real. But it was there, and they indulged in each other when they could. It was nice.

* * *

Natasha knew something was wrong when she couldn't bring herself to leave Agent Barton's side after the Loki situation. On the surface, she might say that this was about paying debts, but she knew that wasn't the whole issue, and that the fear that she felt hearing he was compromised didn't stem from her debt at all.

Natasha allowed herself to lean over to Agent Barton's bed and touch the hair that was mussed over on his forehead, a fond little smile on her lips. Loki had threatened her with her death at Clint's hands, but that was an experience that she and Clint had already dealt with, and it no longer held any fear for her. It no longer mattered; she had saved him from whatever fate Loki had devised for him as he had saved her so many years ago, in that shack in Russia.

But now they were divided and lost, and so many dead. Phil, the man who had given her a life, who had seen what Clint had seen in her, was gone, and with him most of her hope at defeating Loki. But hope no longer factored into her actions anymore, and she would fight, with whoever was left.

Clint stirred, murmured in his sleep, and turned over to face the wall of the infirmary. Natasha stood up and grabbed his arms, buckling him into the straps before he could awake completely. He was sure to still be a little bewildered, she wasn't sure how deep Loki's hold over Clint had been, or if Clint would have total control over his mind yet.

She reached out to touch the tips of Clint's fingers, the fingers that released Loki from his glass prison, the fingers that signed Phil's death certificate, the ones that had saved many and doomed so many more with just a simple touch of a few buttons. But no, it was not Clint who had done those things, it was Loki's puree that had filled Clint's head and made him do those things.

It was done.

* * *

They had all survived somehow; it was still a mystery to her exactly how. The worst injured had been Bruce, once he had calmed down to his human form, but even his injuries were deep bruises at most. They were all granted an extended vacation by Fury, and Natasha and Clint decided on Brazil, even though they didn't leave their hotel room much.

Clint decided that they had leave to do whatever they wanted, at least for a little while, and he and Natasha explored everything, the city and each other. Clint learned that his favorite thing about Nat was the indent in her clavicle, while Natasha had grown fond of Clint's arms.

They laid together for a long time, enjoying each other before life called them back to New York and S.H.I.E.L.D.

* * *

Everything about their relationship could be summed up to their first meeting, Natasha thought. No matter how far gone one of them goes, the other would always be there to pull them back.


End file.
